Emirates, the world’s largest international airline, recognized its top travel agents for their contribution to the airline’s success at a gala dinner last week.

The event, held at the poolside of the Kampala Serena Hotel, also coincided with Emirates’ celebration of 16 years of successful operations in Uganda, and the opening of its new office in Kampala Emirates started services to Uganda in March 2000, with a thrice weekly service linked with Nairobi, and later with Addis Abba, until it was delinked in 2007 and became a direct daily service between Dubai and Entebbe.

Speaking at the event, Jaber Mohamed, Emirates’ Country Manager for Uganda acknowledged and thanked the travel trade and its customers for their support and contribution in making Emirates a success in Uganda.

“Together, we have come a long way since 2000, and we are very proud of what we have achieved to date, and for this we certainly owe a great deal of our success to the valuable partnerships and support we received from everyone,” he said Mr. Jaber also highlighted that Emirates was growing its network, providing Ugandan travelers with even more global connectivity. “This year we plan on launching a number of new and exciting destinations.

These include Cebu and Clark in the Philippines on March 30th, Yinchuan and Zhengzhou in China on 3rd May, and Yangon in Myanmar and Hanoi, Vietnam, on 3rd August.The launch of these new destinations is certainly something to look forward to,” he added.

Sixteen awards across six categories were presented to travel agents during the course of the evening in recognition of their contribution over the past year.